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Monday, 02 January 2006 07:07

Babyshambles, Death Cab, and Elton John.

You might be tired of U2, but apparently they still have plenty of fans, including Time magazine, which named Bono, along with Bill and Melinda Gates, as “Persons of the Year” for 2005. U2 also had the highest-grossing concert tour of 2005 according to Billboard Boxscore. The never-ending Vertigo tour pulled in 11 of the year’s top 25 concert spots. The biggest was U2’s June 24–27 dates at Dublin’s Croke Park, which grossed more than $21.1 million and attracted 246,743 fans to three sellout shows.

Celebrated Irish act the Pogues are set to make a trip across the Atlantic in the spring for a handful of North American dates. Sporting their classic lineup of Shane McGowan, Philip Chevron, Jem Finer, Darryl Hunt, Spider Stacy, Andrew Ranken, Terry Woods, and James Fearnley, the band will start the tour with two dates at Washington, D.C.’s 9:30 Club March 9–10 and finish up with four sold-out shows at New York’s Nokia Theatre.

KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic’s Nic Harcourt is co-producing and acting as music supervisor for the upcoming music industry–centered CBS series Love Monkey. Harcourt has been instrumental in consulting in the past on such shows and films as The Dukes of Hazzard and Queer as Folk and, as his Web site states, “has through the years been an early champion of many artists including Coldplay, Dido, Moby, Alanis Morrisette, Massive Attack, Damien Rice, Jem, Pete Yorn, David Gray, and Norah Jones.”

Three people were stabbed in the early morning of Dec. 21 at a Manhattan club hosting the release party of a new album of duets featuring slain rapper Notorious B.I.G.

Violence also marred an early December all-ages hardcore show at the small youth culture club Skrappy’s in Tucson, Ariz. Several people were injured and one person was killed because of one band’s connection to a group associated with the hardcore scene that espouses disorderly conduct. When the show was abruptly stopped because of excessive shoving in the crowd, the fight spilled out into the parking lot, where audience members were reportedly assaulted with hammers, machetes, and other weapons. One concertgoer retreated to his car after receiving injuries and fatally shot an assailant who was smashing out the vehicle’s windows with a hammer. Authorities are currently investigating whether the shooting was in self-defense.

Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty added to his burgeoning police record when police in London charged him with driving under the influence of drink or drugs. The arrest was made on the morning—read 8 a.m.—of Dec. 18 after Doherty was spotted driving erratically. Suspicious substances were also reportedly found in the vehicle.

Death Cab for Cutie is releasing a series of short films based on the 12 tracks from their major label debut, Plans. The complete works will debut on Death Cab’s Web site in early January, while the month will also mark the band’s first appearance on Saturday Night Live.

Elton John married longtime partner David Furnish last month on the first day same-sex unions in the United Kingdom garnered the same social security, tax, pension, and inheritance rights as married heterosexual couples. In a you-won’t-be-seeing-this-in-the-United-States-anytime-soon moment, Prime Minister Tony Blair congratulated the couple during a news conference.

My Morning Jacket is burning copies of their album, Z for fans who were inconvenienced by the copy protection Sony BMG included on the release. MTV News published a note from the band’s manager: “As our fans have been experiencing varying degrees of difficulty with the copy-protection mechanism employed by Sony BMG, we have responded to each e-mail with an apology…assuring them that My Morning Jacket was not responsible for the decision.”

Michael Jackson’s 50-percent ownership the Beatles song list is, happily, threatened by his failure to repay loans piled up during his acquittal of child molestation charges. Jackson’s 1985 purchase of the catalog caused a rift between the pop star and then-friend Paul McCartney. According to the BBC, Jackson owes nearly $200 million, and unless he repays the loans, the assets will be seized by NYC equity fund Fortress Investment Group. Besides the Beatle’s songs, Jackson also has the publishing rights to work by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Stevie Nicks.

The Beatles legacy, besides marking the 25th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder this past December, is also entwined with more legal wrangling with Capitol and parent company EMI over unpaid royalties. According to the band’s record company, Apple Corps, almost $52 million in royalties is owed under licensing agreements. A statement from Apple Corps said: “Despite very clear provision in our contracts, EMI persist in ignoring their obligations and duty to account fairly and with transparency. Apple and the Beatles are, once again, left with no choice but to sue EMI.”

Satellite radio continues its attempt to lure listeners away from its terrestrial counterpart with the signing of big-time talent. While Sirius is finally able to reap the rewards of plucking Howard Stern from his syndicated perch on free radio for the unbridled terrain of satellite, competitor XM just announced a new show premiering in March hosted by Bob Dylan. The hour-long show will have Dylan interviewing fellow musicians, playing tunes, and answering listener e-mail on the air.

Italian tenor Enzo Stuarti died at the age of 86 last month of heart failure. Well-known for his frequent guest spots on television talk shows and his dozens of Broadway musical appearances, Stuarti is probably most recognized for his “That’s a nice” line from Ragu spaghetti sauce commercials.